Originally, I’d planned to blog about this tomorrow but after talking with Aaron LaPedis I’ve decided tomorrow might be too late. He advises that anyone who has procrastinated about buying a ticket for Saturday Night Alive had better get a move on because only 20 of them remain.
At least that was the figure around noon today.
LaPedis and his wife, Sandee, are chairing the March 3 gala. The Neville Brothers are the headliners.
“Sandee and I could not be happier,” LaPedis says, adding that at this time last year, there were 70 tickets yet to be sold.
Aaron also shared the happy news that his Rocky Mountain PBS show, Collectibles with Aaron LaPedis, has been renewed for a second season. New episodes air at 2 p.m. every Saturday on Channel 6. The LaPedises own Fascination Street Galleries in Cherry Creek North.
Saturday Night Alive vice chairmen are Leo Kiely of Coors; Dean Singleton of The Denver Post and Dick Noetbaert of Qwest. Corporate chairmen are Roger Hutson, Jack Overstreet and Mark Sexton while sponsors are United Airlines, Lincoln, Comcast, CW2, Epicurean Catering and Margot and Allan Frank.
Tickets are $350 each for general admission; $700 per patron or $1,250 for Platinum Patron status. Patrons receive preferred seating, an invitation to a thank-you party on Feb. 20, and the choice of an overnight at the Brown Palace or limousine service to and from the gala. Platinum Patrons get all that plus a full-page salute in the souvenir journal and the opportunity to attend a meet-and-greet with the Nevilles.
Proceeds go to the Arts in Education programs put on by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Call 303-446-4812.
In other DCPA news, word today is that the gala for “Little Mermaid” will be on Aug. 24 and it’s going to be as splashy (pardon the pun) as those held for “The Lion King” and “Sunset Boulevard.”
“Little Mermaid” tickets go on sale to the public March 18 — and the run is expected to sell out — but gala tickets can be reserved now by calling the above number.
All the fine points are still being worked out, but DCPA spokeswoman Suzanne Blandon says the gala will include pre- and post-show parties, premiere seating in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, and a catered dinner in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom.Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She believes her love of water is due to the fact she was a fish in a previous life, and thus cannot wait for “Little Mermaid” to swim into town.

Trains and boats and planes … ev’ry time I see them I pray the trains and the boats and the planes will bring you back, back home to me.
Almost like the Burt Bacharach song, it took many modes of transportation to get several of the principals to Colorado in time for Friday night’s Denver Debutante Ball. Boats were the only exception.
With airports and roads closed because of the Holiday Blizzard, debutantes, post-debutantes, family members and friends found themselves doing whatever it took — even accepting the kindness of strangers — to get to the Brown Palace Hotel. Read more…

Study after study has shown that when it comes to charitable fundraisers, Denver has more per capita than any comparably sized city in the nation. Joanne Davidson has been covering them for The Denver Post since 1985, coming here from her native California where she'd spent the previous seven years as San Francisco bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report magazine.